


Choice

by StrawberryLane



Series: The roughest crew afloat [3]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Nervousness, Pirate Abigail, Protective Captain Flint, Wedding Day, Wedding Fluff, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 06:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11845995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryLane/pseuds/StrawberryLane
Summary: Eight months ago she had nervously confessed her love for Billy Bones to the man himself.Today, he will become her husband.





	Choice

Ten months have gone by since Abigail joined the Walrus crew back in Charles Town. At first she'd been terrified of her own feelings. Sure, she'd known these were men less evil than the ones who actually had the guts to call themselves good and then turned around to shoot an innocent woman to death. But still, these men were pirates, even if they had an honour code when it came to her. But after nearly ten months in their everyday company, she figures she's not too out of place to call them friends. God knows she'll most likely be hanged alongside them, should they ever get caught.

But today is not that day. Today is a day of happiness and laughter.

_Today is her wedding day._

Eight months ago she had nervously confessed her love for Billy Bones to the man himself.

Today, he will become her husband.

*

Abigail looks up from where she's standing at the desk in Captain Flint's cabin at the sound of the door opening. The man himself pokes his head in, ready to withdraw and wait outside should she not be fit for company. But she is, she's been dressed in the finest dress she could find on their last prize for over an hour, impatiently waiting for the men to announce that they're ready for her. It's not a wedding dress, simply a fine dress on its way to a wealthy woman in London, but it'll have to do.

It's been months since she's been wearing a dress for longer than a few hours; she's quite forgotten how much of a hassle it is getting dressed. When they use her as a decoy to prevent their victims from suspecting them being pirates until it's too late, she often wears dresses, but she never bothers with stays and stockings. The only things that are important are the ones that are visible. Today, she's gone all the way. She'd had to ask Joji for help.

"Are you ready?" Flint asks as he takes one tiny, hesitant step towards her. Abigail draws a deep breath.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she tells him, not even attempting to hide the smile breaking out on her face.

*

The idea of being married, of living together as husband and wife is something she and Billy discussed early on in their relationship. He'd wanted things to be proper, on account of her being a lady, and what's more proper than a marriage? This marriage won't be anything like the one she's been prepared for her whole life, that's something she's well aware off. There won't be an estate, there won't be a fortune, no servants and no rules of proper society to uphold. For the foreseeable future, there won't even be a house.

Their marriage won't be recognized in the eyes of the law, not until they get to Nassau and can obtain a license and get hold of the vicar Flint knows off to marry them for real. Right now, though, this will have to do.

The crew has spent the day cleaning the ship – under the watchful eye of De Groot – and themselves to make sure everything is looking its finest on their brother's big day. As she steps out of Flint's cabin, Abigail wants to laugh. Every single man, for as far as she can see, has made an effort, dressed in the most clean and whole clothes they own. Silver's even braided his hair from the look of it.

It touches something inside of her that these rough people have made an effort. For her, but, she suspects, mostly for her husband-to-be. Billy's been part of the crew for much longer than she has and he's someone they are fond of, just as he is fond of them in return.

Though all of them would probably scoff at her use of the word _fond_. Fondness ain’t for pirates, she's learned.

*

Billy's waiting by the mainmast, smiling at her. The shirt he's wearing is a little too small and Abigail suspects it belongs to Flint or to Joji or someone else entirely. It's a nice shirt though, whole and sparklingly white. It makes his skin appear even more affected by the sun than it already is.

_Beautiful._ He looks beautiful, standing there in the unforgiving sunshine, waiting for her and their new life together.

She joins him at the mainmast, Flint standing in front of them with a bible in his hands and the rest of the crew surrounding them, watching silently. There's a shout of questionable encouragement for Billy from somewhere within the crowd and Billy shouts back a light-hearted insult that brings out rowdy laughter. Glancing at Abigail, Flint rolls his eyes with an amused twist of his mouth and begins to read.

Abigail lets the familiar words of the bible wash over her, clutching Billy's hand in her own. Flint isn't a vicar and it's been a long time since anyone on the crew has been to a wedding, but they all know the gist of it. Flint'll read a suitable passage from the holy book, will ask both Billy and Abigail if they promise to cherish, support and love each other for the rest of their lives to which both will say yes. Once they do, Billy will give her the ring he stole from some small village off the coast of the Americas and she'll put hers on his finger and he'll put his on her. They will kiss. The crew will cheer and shout inappropriate things at them, Silver will bang his crutch against the deck in celebration and Flint will pronounce them husband and wife.

She'll be the wife of Billy Bones, of William Manderly, of the husband she chose for herself.

That, Abigail thinks, is probably the best thing of it all. Billy is her choice and hers alone.

*

Their rings are glinting in the sunlight and Abigail can't stop admiring the one on her own finger. It's nothing extraordinary, just a simple band made of gold but it still makes her heart flutter. That little piece of jewellery signifies her union with a pirate, with a man the world wants to see hanged. It signifies her union with a man she loves like she's loved no other ever before.

It signifies a new chapter of her life.

She won't be wearing it on her finger for much longer, she knows. Billy's already taken his off to keep it among the beads he always wears around his neck. Wearing rings while doing actual work on the ship can be dangerous business if you're not careful.

At the beginning of her joining forces with Captain Flint's crew, she'd been lost. She knew nothing of ships or of sailing. Nothing about all the work needed just to keep the giant thing afloat. Something as simple as not wearing jewellery had been beyond her knowledge at the time. Now, almost a year in, she knows considerably more. Slowly but surely the crew has realised she's not there to simply be there, she's there to do the work, just like them. It feels good to know they value her as a worker, as something more than just a decoy for honest merchant ships.

Her new husband nudging her shoulder brings her out of the thoughts that's clouded her mind and she realises she's been staring at her hand for God knows how long.

"Would you do me the honour of dancing with me, Mrs Bones?" Billy asks, the words rolling of his tongue effortlessly, like he's called her by her new name a hundred times before.

"I would love too, Mr Bones," she replies, taking his hand. Abigail lets herself be hauled to her feet by her giant of a husband, becoming aware of the sound of singing and laughter around her. Beauclerc, the sharpshooter, has taken the lead, leading the rest of the crew in song. It's not songs appropriate for a wedding at all, but it is something she can dance too and she will.

Her marriage won't be traditional, so why should her wedding, Abigail reasons as Billy tugs her into the middle of the drinking crowd, holding her in his arms.

*

After a while, when she's grown tired of dancing, Flint drags her aside, only for a moment. Billy is busy being congratulated by his brothers, toasting in whisky to his new life.

"I ought to give the two of you the use of my cabin for tonight, don't I?" There's a hint of a smirk on Flint's face, which widens when Abigail blushes.

Sex. She knows about sex. Well, more than she did before anyway. Her education back in London left much to be desired when it came to biology and human nature in general. It wasn't proper for a young lady to know, she'd been told. All she has to do, really, Lady Mitchell told her, was lay back and let it happen. Soon enough, should God be willing, she'd find herself with child and her role as a wife and a mother would be fulfilled.

Somehow, she suspects it won't be like that with Billy. He's been quite adamant about waiting, because he wants it to be proper. He wants it done right, because she's a real lady and he's not. It was only right, he'd told her when she'd asked. Children is another matter entirely, it is certainly something they have yet to discuss, and, to be honest, it's not a conversation she's desperate to have. Children can wait, she figures. A pirate ship is hardly the right place for them, anyway.

"Yes, thank you," she tells Flint, trying to get her flaming cheeks back under control. "That would be much appreciated."

James Flint isn't a man who shows his feelings by touching, by any means. He shows his feelings by doing rash things, by weaving enchanting words together that enraptures anyone who hears them, but he's not a man who touches. Which makes it all the more surprising when Abigail feels his hand come down on her shoulder, patting awkwardly. "I'll tell him to be careful," her captain mutters quietly, shouldering past her, stalking away toward her husband. Abigail turns her back on him, instead focuses her attention wholeheartedly on Dooley's conversation with Muldoon. She doesn't need to witness the awkwardness that is sure to appear when Flint tells Billy how to behave while in bed with her.

There’ll be plenty enough of that from her side of things once they are actually left alone in the cabin, she thinks.


End file.
